Spatial – Infra12009 (Infrasonics)

London-based electronic producer Matt Spendlove only released his last 12” EP as Spatial ‘Netz Room’ a couple of months back, and now this latest download-only EP ‘Infra12009’ on his own Infrasonics label sees him maintaining his prolific work rate, with four new tracks that continue to see him blurring the boundaries between broken beats, grime and techno.

There’s a distinct underlying sense of tension and restrained malevolence lurking throughout much of this EP. The title of opening track ‘Chronic’ hints at this, with a distant high-pitched modulated whine adding a constant feeling of unsettling queasiness as implacable mechanical rhythms lock into place, the pressurised hiss of an abrasive hi-hat counterpointing flat, distorted sounding bass kicks as a spidery filtered analogue synth line begins to worm its way into the foreground, gradually shedding layers of itself as it gets ping-pong delayed all over the place.

More than anything else, there’s a sense of monotonous robotic momentum constantly present, with ‘Calima’ setting a jittering percussive pulse that gradually takes on a more metallically filtered edge against eerie synth whirs and grime-y creeping sub-bass drops, the scissoring snares and hi-hats marking out what’s easily this EP’s most UK bass music-tinged moment. Elsewhere, ‘Kairos’ ventures out into crushed-sounding off-step techno as kickdrums lurch against blocky-sounding 8-bit bass tones and bright electro kicks, the squelching acid sequences that emerge out of the background calling to mind Rephlex’s mutated braindance.

’Abora’ meanwhile sends a dubby bassline undulating against clipped-sounding minimal techno rhythms as glitchy electronic tones surge in the background and vampy synth flourishes add flashes of colour amidst the predominantly monochrome landscape – while just as dark as the other tracks, it’s easily the most curiously elastic moment to be found here. With this latest EP, Spatial continues to impress and blur genre boundaries at the same time.